Panama is such an amazing country
and surprises everyone who visits. I
joke with our friends that if they are
planning on coming to Panama be prepared
to be overwhelmed.

So Why Panama? Is there a reason -
No, There are several reasons -- the
opportunities are plentiful, albeit the
prices are going up.

We have really
taken to the Caribbean coast as it
offers so much nicer water and beaches.

address

WhyPanama
Costa del Este
Panama
City, Panama

SpayPanama

The
2012 Spay Panama calendar is now
available and it's their best ever! Both
Panamanian AND U.S. holidays are
labeled. The pictures featured are all
of formerly homeless dogs and cats that
were neutered and lucky enough to have
been adopted. All proceeds go to support
the wonderful efforts of Spay Panama to
control the overpopulation of unwanted
pets. Since its inception in 2002, Spay
Panama has sterilized over 24,000
animals! The yearly calendar is their
main fundraising tool and they really
need your support. Like most other
non-profit organizations, Spay Panama
has seen a severe drop in donations due
to the economy.

Since we
moved to Panama in 2006
every time we tell one
of our friends that we
moved to the Republic of
Panama, the first
question is always "Why
Panama". So we decided
to build a web site to
help them understand how
simple the decision to
choose Panama really was
to us. We have included
some links to other
sites and to articles we
think might help
understand Panama. This
is by no means
exhaustive, so be sure
to move through the
suggested sites and
explore the links and
resources they suggest
to ensure you get
as much information as
possible.

Newsand events

03/11/2018

Welcome to the month of November
in Panama. November it the month
of holidays and festivals.
November is the month of rain.
November is the month when
Christmas starts. November is
black Friday sales. November has
the Day of the Dead. November is
a crazy month.

When we first moved here and
went through our first November
as residents and business owner
I remember thinking how crazy it
was to have everything packed
into one month.

There are 5 official holidays to
be celebrated. All of them about
independence from either Spain
or Colombia. Everyone gets
patriotic for a month. The
businesses festoon their
entrances with flags and
official seals or proclamations.
Women come to work in
celebratory dress, some almost
full pollera dresses. Mostly
people people party and set off
fire works. As Canadians, we
have only one day to Celebrate
Canada - July 1st - seems so
much less than Panama with 5
full days to celebrate their
country.

One day is tolerated vs
celebrated, the Day of the Dead
- the day when you can't buy
alcohol.

As a business owner with clients
in North America it means
everyone gets 2.5 times their
pay to come to work on these 5
holiday days.

December is slightly less
chaotic with Mothers Day,
Christmas Eve, Christmas and New
Years Eve.

The rains are generally the
strongest in November but still
tolerable as they rarely last
the entire day ant it is still
warm.

October means another year
passed since our Cricket passed
away. I can't believe it has
been four years already. And now
we lost one of our foster pups a
couple of weeks ago. We "met"
Pastor almost 12 years ago as a
stray living around a security
shed in our neighbourhood. He
had a serious case of mange and
we were not sure he'd survive
but our vet at that time, Dr
Frank, assured us he would come
around with some treatment. He
did and he went on to live
almost 12 more years in the care
of a nice family here in our
area. We visited every week or
every two weeks. His harem grew
to 3 other dogs over the years
but he was always the the
biggest and the patron. We
will miss him but we are
thankful he had such a great
life compared to what he would
have had on the street.

Are you thinking about Panama as
a new home? If you are you will
have lots of questions.

We've been so fortunate to meet
and enjoy so many other expats
and Panamanians over the 12
years.

We get notes often asking about
something to do with Panama -
because we encourage people to
ask. We've been so fortunate
with our move and the people
that have helped us we are more
than willing to help where we
can.

Feel free to ask if you are you
just thinking of a vacation in
Panama or if you are thinking of
making Panama home we'd be happy
to point you at some resources
or give you some suggestions -
we have nothing to sell and
nothing to gain except maybe
meeting a new friend. We have
been really privileged to get to
know some great friends during
our past 10 years.

Donna started iCanGarden.com
and is now over 20 years later it has
become Canada's largest Internet
gardening resource site. Several
thousand people visit her site
every day. Spend some time
looking over the thousands of
pictures of gardens from all
over the world.

We are so
proud of the TV special just
aired by Recreating Eden -
entitled "the Gardening
Tourist".

Donna
recently changed the look of the
site - - if you enjoy it - let
her know - I am really proud of
her.